1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for storing, managing and tracking changes to design information typically created in multi-user, multi-discipline, engineering projects. Specifically, the present invention provides a management tool for tracking and managing multiple simultaneous changes to a project data set in a cohesive, secure, identifiable, and reversible way. Importantly, the invention provides interfaces for importing data from, and for making changes to, the project data set with file-oriented tools such as CAD programs.
2. Related Art
The goal of concurrent engineering is to enable multiple users to work on the same design concurrently, each contributing his own expertise in a way that builds on and complements the work of others. Engineering projects present a particularly challenging computer information management problem since they are characterized by workflows that involve multiple participants simultaneously making changes to related information. Current generation software products, particularly those in the computer aided drafting (CAD) category, are weak at supporting these workflows, since they were generally designed to replicate and automate the one-at-a-time nature of drafting boards.
In pre-CAD workflows, a paper drawing could only be modified by a single draftsperson at a time. Thus, it seemed natural that the computerized equivalents would take the same approach. However, that approach is now seen as inadequate. First, the manual process on which the software design is based has limitations and problems. For example, coordination between draftspeople requires verbal communication between the draftspeople, which is subject to a breakdown. Second, the ‘ubiquitous’ nature of electronic information access tends to exacerbate the weaknesses of the manual communications process. Participants on an electronic project can now be physically dispersed as a byproduct of the ‘virtual office’ model made possible by communications advances such as the Internet. Third, software advances are making electronic engineering simulations more powerful and reliable such that the computer model can be regarded as the master design information, with design drawings representing reports generated from that model.